Black – 20 Stories High – Playhouse Studio – 28/01/2015

This week we saw Benedict Cumberbatch being roundly berated in the press for being racist when he thought he was being quite the opposite. It wouldn’t be the first time that someone had got into hot water by using the wrong terminology, intentionally or not, but this occurrence came with perfect timing to get the subject of racial abuse into everyone’s minds, ahead of the opening night of Keith Saha’s new work in the Playhouse Studio.

Nikki doesn’t see herself as racist – she doesn’t see her family as racist – but when a new family (who happen to be black) move into the street she can’t help noticing the reaction. Over the next hour or so we see her confront the opinions of her family, her neighbours and ultimately herself as she struggles to understand and to form her own view of the situation.

Abby Melia makes a hugely impressive professional debut in what is very nearly a solo performance as Nikki. At first she mirrors the behaviour of her own community but when she turns up for her work placement at the day nursery, and finds herself meeting them via their children, she becomes increasingly torn between her need to conform and her realisation that she’s met a good family.

Craig Shanda spends much of the play behind the decks providing the soundtrack to the piece, and he delivers his lines musically. He represents rather than plays the role of Precious, the elder son of the new family who Nikki finds a bond with as the play progresses.

This is a tremendous piece of writing from Saha, who attacks the issues head on but never offers any easy solutions or happy endings. It’s important for a piece like this to act as a catalyst for discussion rather than a neat explanation. In early scratch performances, the author says people thought it might be set some decades ago, failing to believe that people really behave like this today, but he observes that if anything we are going backwards in our post 9/11 world, with undercurrents of racism on a sharp increase. It will be interesting to see the reactions that this piece gets in its various diverse tour destinations, and when it airs in school performances.

Director Julia Samuels worked with the cast over a 2½ week period to consolidate the journey that the characters go through and their work has paid off in a powerful and compelling performance. Miriam Narabbo’s simple but effective set, with some touches of playroom quirkiness, is lit by Douglas Kuhrt.

Touring from 3rd February via The MAC Belfast, The Key Peterborough, Contact Manchester, Bolton Octagon, Lawrence Batley Huddersfield, Burnley Arts Centre, St Helens Chester Lane Library, The Albany Deptford, and MAC Birmingham, Closing 20th March.

This Last Tempest – Fuel & Uninvited Guests – Unity Liverpool – 24/01/2015

As Prospero prepares to set sail for Naples in the closing pages of The Tempest, we as an audience are possibly given to wonder what a sequel might be like, following their fortunes as they rebuild their lives.

Theatre makers Uninvited Guests and producer Fuel have concerned themselves in This Last Tempest with what may become of Ariel and Caliban if they remain behind on the island, now free of the spells that bound them. They may well be the stuff that dreams are made on, but their little lives aren’t ready to be rounded off with a sleep just yet.

Caliban rejoices long and loud at first, while Ariel maintains a more cautious stance, aware of the pitfalls of getting what you wish for.

Jessica Hoffmann and Richard Dufty are Ariel and Caliban, and they’re aided and abetted in their storytelling by musician Neil Johnson, who also opens the play in the manner of a chorus. To describe the narrative would be to spoil the show, but suffice to say that the characters explore ideas of freedom, whilst reflecting on the events that brought them to this point and the possibilities for their future.

A three dimensional soundscape reaches beyond the simple set into every recess of the room, and the audience get to touch the sounds of the island too. This, together with hypnotic performances and writing that has a rhythm of Shakespeare but an air of modernity, create an atmospheric and magical evening.

This Last Tempest continues touring 17 Feb at Aberystwyth Arts Centre, 19th Feb at Axis Arts Centre Crewe and 20/21 Feb at Brighton Dome.

The Theory of Everything – film – FACT Liverpool 02/01/2015

Look at what we made...

I’m always a little cautious of biopics, especially where they are of living people and even more so when the lives they describe have potential for cinematic mawkishness. However, where Hollywood could have wallowed, this UK production from Working Title and director James Marsh manages to stand just sufficiently back from sentimentality to make this picture affecting but unaffected, and unselfconsciously moving.

Based on a memoir by his first wife Jane, the narrative introduces Stephen Hawking around his acceptance into Cambridge and meeting Jane, and follows their relationship through the highs and lows of academic success, advancing Motor Neurone Disease, the building of a family and their eventual but apparently amicable separation.

I have rarely been in a cinema where the audience have been quite so rapt in attention – you could have heard a pin drop at times. The central, spellbinding performance from Eddie Redmayne is simply astonishing. He manages to convey both Hawking’s periodical despair and his seemingly boundless energy and determination and, above all, shows a sense of fun, humour and love of life. This is a finely balanced portrayal that fully fills out the character.

Felicity Jones gives a great performance too as Jane, and Maxine Peake and Charlie Cox are also excellent in their supporting roles as Elaine and Jonathan, whose presence in the Hawkings’ lives are mixed blessings.
 
This is modern British Cinema at its best, beautifully shot by Benoît Delhomme and underpinned by a well judged but low key score from Jóhann Jóhannsson, It tells its tale with a well judged balance of emotion, never overstepping the line into melodrama, but instead relying on the power of the material and our need to connect with its people.

With its closing scenes winding up this particular chapter of Stephen Hawking’s life with real flair and a heart-warming flourish, The Theory of Everything is both moving and life-affirming and comes highly recommended.